XZero771679666304

BREAKING NEWS! :roll: Uh oh. We've never seen him before. This could be really bad... :-& Yeah, no reason to like back-to back winning seasons for the 1st time in 35 years! [-X Yeah, since we all know Dusty single handedly propelled the Cubs to those winning seasons. :roll:

I believe after Abreu walked? If that's the case, then I guess Dusty did exactly what I thought he should do. People were talking like no one was up until the bases were loaded. My bad.

I disagree 100 percent. There almost NO managers that will pull their closer. What kind of message of confidence does that send him? All Closers will blow games, it just happens. You can't have someone ready at the first sign of trouble. I bet that means an enormous amount to Dempster. I can't believe the number of you that would pull your closer who has been lights out pretty much at his first sign of trouble. Dusty is dumb, but not for this reason. Am I the only one who think that? I don't remember saying he should have been pulled. I just said someone should have started warming up. I am sorry, but if Dempster had walked in another run, you have to go get him. To sit there and watch a guy walk in the tying and winning runs is nothing short of [expletive]. I would hope that Dempster would be professional enough to undertand it if he couldn't find the strike zone. Now this is academic, but the responsible thing would have been to warm somebody up just in case Ryan couldn't find the zone at some point. The games mean too much at this point to sacrifice wins for a player's ego. Novoa was warming up. At what point? I didn't see the game, but if it was after the run was walked in, then it was too late.

I disagree 100 percent. There almost NO managers that will pull their closer. What kind of message of confidence does that send him? All Closers will blow games, it just happens. You can't have someone ready at the first sign of trouble. I bet that means an enormous amount to Dempster. I can't believe the number of you that would pull your closer who has been lights out pretty much at his first sign of trouble. Dusty is dumb, but not for this reason. Am I the only one who think that? I don't remember saying he should have been pulled. I just said someone should have started warming up. I am sorry, but if Dempster had walked in another run, you have to go get him. To sit there and watch a guy walk in the tying and winning runs is nothing short of [expletive]. I would hope that Dempster would be professional enough to undertand it if he couldn't find the strike zone. Now this is academic, but the responsible thing would have been to warm somebody up just in case Ryan couldn't find the zone at some point. The games mean too much at this point to sacrifice wins for a player's ego.

It ended with a win, but there is no excuse for Dusty not getting someone up as soon as Dempster walked his second batter. None.

Arizona up 1-0 on a Tracy HR off Clemens.

GIDP, please.

After a quick calculation: .240/.265/.337/.602 And that's counting the first half of may, when he was still hot.

If you honestly think a batter can't control the general area of where he tries to hit a ball, you need baseball 101. No offense meant. Yes, I know you can control it.. I just get sick of you guys just ripping on Neifi all the time. Let's face the facts here. Neifi was very good for about one and a half months. Since then, he has been simply abysmal. The numbers he has put up over the past two months have not been acceptable from any MLB player, even a backup. Two big hits do not make up for months of horrid production. A sub .600 OPS over a prolonged period is enough to get most guys released. I understand Dusty has loyalty to Neifi for saving our butts in April and early May, but playing him everyday has long since passed the point of hurting the team. Cedeno could not possibly do any worse than Neifi has been. That isn't Neifi's fault, but the frustration of seeing him run out there day after day when he has been so very bad is going to spill over.

I bet they liked that GS he hit in St.Louis I bet they all did too. While I did enjoyed that, Neifi is not your everyday starter, no matter what. Plus, sometimes a blind squirrel finds an apricot. Neifi just suck baows. & he wasn't signed as an everday SS, some here tend to forget that. He was one of the best back-up SS's in the ML's Fixed.

I bet they liked that GS he hit in St.Louis I bet they all did too. And they really love his sub-.600 OPS over the past two months. And how he leads the team in GIDP.

How is the umpire's zone tonight? A few called thirds already....

He could, but it would be very bad.

why am I not surprised? It's safer to have a bad feeling about everything, that way you don't get disappointed.

Hairston's bat is only useful if he's leading off, which won't happen anymore, and regardless of how good Patterson's defense is, he can't even hit minor league pitching at the moment and his defense won't even come close to making up for that. Patteron's had more success in the majors than Murton, and the league could catch up w/ Murton at any moment. I'm not giving up on Patterson yet. I'm not giving up on Patterson either but I still think it's ridiculous to call him up now and sit Murton. Patterson > Murton This board is getting fired up again about a guy who's not that special. Patterson's speed, defense and power are better than Murton's. Sure Murton takes some walks and slaps singles, but this is his first time around the league. Patterson was a .800 ops guy a few years ago. He was an .800 OPS guy. Then the league figured out you don't have to pitch to him to get him out. Until Patterson shows he can put the bat on the ball (which he hasn't at AAA) and not to swing at pitches he has no chance of hitting, Murton>>>>>Patterson. All his speed and power doesn't amount to squat when you approach AB's like was before his demotion. Murton may not be a superstar, but I'll take a guy who has a clue at the plate, thanks. >>>>>????? Some have absolutely lost their minds over a guy w/ 34 major league at-bats. If he lifts a ball to the warning track, I might get excited. That was to emphasize how bad Corey was before he was sent down. He was a literal black hole. It's not a matter of having lost it over Murton, rather having lost it with Patterson. It was to the point that Corey simply putting a ball in play was a revelation. Murton now>>>>>>>May/June Corey. If Corey were tearing it up in AAA, I would agree with you, but he isn't. He's been terrible down there, too. So Corey has power, so what? He couldn't put freaking ball in play, so what good does that do anybody? I'll take singles, walks and opposite field doubles over K's, pop outs, and weak grounders to first. The homer every 30 or 40 AB's does little to make up for a pitiable OBP and AVG. I think the logic is clear, regardless of who you like more. Do you scrap the hot hand for one dipped in liquid nitrogen?

Hairston's bat is only useful if he's leading off, which won't happen anymore, and regardless of how good Patterson's defense is, he can't even hit minor league pitching at the moment and his defense won't even come close to making up for that. Patteron's had more success in the majors than Murton, and the league could catch up w/ Murton at any moment. I'm not giving up on Patterson yet. I'm not giving up on Patterson either but I still think it's ridiculous to call him up now and sit Murton. Patterson > Murton This board is getting fired up again about a guy who's not that special. Patterson's speed, defense and power are better than Murton's. Sure Murton takes some walks and slaps singles, but this is his first time around the league. Patterson was a .800 ops guy a few years ago. He was an .800 OPS guy. Then the league figured out you don't have to pitch to him to get him out. Until Patterson shows he can put the bat on the ball (which he hasn't at AAA) and not to swing at pitches he has no chance of hitting, Murton>>>>>Patterson. All his speed and power doesn't amount to squat when you approach AB's like was before his demotion. Murton may not be a superstar, but I'll take a guy who has a clue at the plate, thanks.

i dont know how you can say that with any certainty i dont think dawson should be in the hall, and i couldve sworn he was a cub Well you can apply most of their arguments against Ozzie's worthiness to Sandberg and see that they fit him pretty well too. Yet they don't seem to have a problem with him in the Hall. Yeah, but Sandberg was 10 times the hitter Ozzie was, but Ozzie was not 10 times the fielder Sandberg was. As an all around player, Ozzie was a quite a few rungs down from Sandberg. Ryno was the best offensive and defensive 2B for nearly a decade. Ozzie was the best defensive SS for similar period, but he was a offensive non-entity, really. Even so, Ryno is a marginal HOF'er, barely good enough to get in, IMO. I don't think it's fair to call him an "offensive non-entity." Maybe by today's standards he is, but not when he played in the 80's. Okay, maybe that was a bit of hyperbole. But he wasn't an impact player offensively, by any stretch of the imagination.

i dont know how you can say that with any certainty i dont think dawson should be in the hall, and i couldve sworn he was a cub Well you can apply most of their arguments against Ozzie's worthiness to Sandberg and see that they fit him pretty well too. Yet they don't seem to have a problem with him in the Hall. Except Ozzie never put up offensive numbers like Ryno did. No, but people are saying that Ozzie shouldn't be in the Hall because his offense wasn't good enough. Sandberg's was better than Ozzie's, but you can say that it too wasn't good enough. I say that if a player is voted in to the Hall of Fame then he deserves to be there. Yeah, but Sandberg was a hell of a second baseman. 9 consecutive GG's, the record for consecutive errorless games by a 2B.....He wasn't the one dimensional player that Ozzie was.

i dont know how you can say that with any certainty i dont think dawson should be in the hall, and i couldve sworn he was a cub Well you can apply most of their arguments against Ozzie's worthiness to Sandberg and see that they fit him pretty well too. Yet they don't seem to have a problem with him in the Hall. Yeah, but Sandberg was 10 times the hitter Ozzie was, but Ozzie was not 10 times the fielder Sandberg was. As an all around player, Ozzie was a quite a few rungs down from Sandberg. Ryno was the best offensive and defensive 2B for nearly a decade. Ozzie was the best defensive SS for similar period, but he was a offensive non-entity, really. Even so, Ryno is a marginal HOF'er, barely good enough to get in, IMO.

Really? I could have sworn someone else on this board quoted a substantial loss in runs for Ozzie. Not that I disagree, but that's what I remember hearing. BTW, what calculations do you use to come up with these numbers?

This also applies to Hairston, in my opinion. Even Corey's not as good as lat year defense easily outclasses Hairston. I totally agree. Just like blazing speed doesn't make you a good basestealer. And Lawton has been pretty bad recently as a corner OF regardless. Speed aside, Hairston would be better in CF. IMO, the Cubs now lack a good defensice CF, on the bench or in the lineup. Hairston and Macias are below average, and Lawton would be worse. I'd be half tempted to call corey back up and slap him on the 8 hole.

And how many did he cost with his bat?

Santo is a homer, but you won't hear him call a game on WGN TV. Extreme homers like Harrelson should be on local radio, where the listeners are fans of their team more often than not. If you are going to call a game when millions are watching, you need to be somewhat balanced. Harry was a homer, but the recent teams of Stone/Chip and Len/Bob have been far better at being balanced. Slanted toward the Cubs, but not blatant homers. Games on the superstation are one of the few opportunities some fans of non-Cubs/Sox teams may have to watch their team play, and they shouldn't be subjected to extreme homerism. Hawk is an obnoxious and biased homer of the highest order, and only Sox fans should have to listen to him. Santo is not quite as bad as he is, and I sure as heck don't think he should be doing any nationwide broadcasts. And Hawk is horrible. If he was strictly a color guy, it wouldn't be so bad. Saying a call is "BS", yelling and screaming, the good guy/bad guy thing, being silent and pouting when your team is getting hammered....these things are totally unacceptable for a television broadcaster. He calls the game like a spoiled 5-year old. He lacks the even tempered professionalism as a broadcater needed to do games with a large audience. As do guys like Santo and Al Hrabosky.

plus ozzie did backflips Thos backflips just put him over the top. Maybe Omar has to do a few to get inducted.

Like Tim said, I think Smith's longevity is the key to his legacy. I know I have seen some SS play better defense than Ozzie, but not for a protracted period of time. One example I would use is Rey Ordonez, who for one or two seasons with the Mets, played as good a defensive SS as I have ever seen. Rey couldn't sustain that, his defense declined, and he faded into oblivion. Ozzie played upper top tier defense for the vast majority of his career, which was fairly long. The last couple of years however, he was just above average. Which brings me to Omar Vizquel, who is a mirror of Smith, IMO. The only difference is the Omar was just a bit better with the bat. If Ozzie is a HOF'er, so is Vizquel.